“At birth, male ceratioids are already equipped with extremely well developed olfactory organs that detect scents in the water. When it is mature, the male’s digestive system degenerates, making him incapable of feeding independently, which necessitates his quickly finding a female anglerfish to prevent his death.

The sensitive olfactory organs help the male to detect the pheromones that signal the proximity of a female anglerfish. When he finds a female, he bites into her skin, and releases an enzyme that digests the skin of his mouth and her body, fusing the pair down to the blood-vessel level. The male then atrophies into nothing more than a pair of gonads, which releases sperm in response to hormones in the female’s bloodstream indicating egg release. This extreme sexual dimorphism ensures that, when the female is ready to spawn, she has a mate immediately available.

The spawn of the anglerfish of the genus Lophius consists of a thin sheet of transparent gelatinous material 2 or 3 feet wide and 25 to 30 feet long. The eggs in this sheet are in a single layer, each in its own little cavity. The spawn is free in the sea. The larvae are free-swimming and have the pelvic fins elongated into filaments. Such an egg sheet is rare in fish.”

The sometimes jittery footage was taken almost eleven years ago from the crowd during one of their yearly August bashes (this one known as the Great Went), which took place in remote corners of northern New England (a decommissioned Air Force base in Maine in this case).

It takes place in the later open section of their song Bathtub Gin - the beginning of this footage starts with lots of riffing around the main theme, and then melts into into great six minute buildup, which ends up leading into the next song (cuts off right before that).

Oh, it was good stuff.

We just came back with a giant box of yum from the Farmers Market. Mike Hubbard, the friendly proprietor of Garden Mountain Farm brought it by Blacksburg this morning. I now have more pork shoulder, pork chops, fatback, ribs and other assorted goodness than I know what to do with.

Well, I guess I know what to do with it - I’m just not sure how to store it. This’ll have to do for now.

Go check out the Farmers Market every Wednesday (3-7 PM) and Saturday (8 AM - 2 PM) for the freshest fare this side of the New River (and usually some great live music and some local art)!